What, no soccer today?

Sixty games down and four to go in the 2006 WC. Yesterday was a day off and there's nothing to watch today (not even on GOL-TV). Yesterday, we got our soccer fix at a Washington Freedom game, played out at the Soccerplex in Germantown, Md. The Freedom, a team composed of former members of the last Freedom team from the WUSA, a couple of Australian national team players, current and former college players, members of the US U-21 women's team, and others, played a similarly composed team from New York. Freedom won 3-0, thanks to a brilliant corner from Lori Lindsey (pictured above from an earlier game) headed smartly by Joanna Lohman in the first half and two late second half goals, the first from Lohman (who almost had a third goal), and a final goal from a player whose name I didn't catch.

I was fun to be at a game and not in front of the television (though for the Ref, who also was at the game, quite a different atmosphere from his last live game in Munich; pobrecito). It also was fun to watch a game played at a different tempo, to watch careful midfield play, to watch crisp passing, and to watch team play and goals scored not off of set pieces but in the actual flow of the game (only the first goal came from a set piece).

Now, what do I do today??

More on the WC later.